Piece A Cake BABY DRESS BY ANNA MARIA HORNER

The Piece A Cake Baby Dress is such a simple sew that I highly recommend doing a batch of them for the
special baby girl in your life! Because of the simplicity, the dress is a blank canas to play with a mi! of
prints, add little bits and bobs, indulge in some of "anome#s machine embroidery, or add some heirloom
details by hand$ This was the first dress I made for my %ary Anna before she was een born, and I
promptly followed it with duplicates in buttery soft oile for her newborn days$ The simple sewing is also
ideal for a fast growing baby, because you can actually keep up with newer ersions from newborn to
&'months$
FINISHED GARMENT DIMENSIONS
I(C)*+ , months - months . months &' months
bust '' inches '/ inches '0 inches '- inches
waist '' inches '/ inches '0 inches '- inches
hip '/ inches '- inches '1 inches '2 inches
%*T3IC , months - months . months &' months
bust 00$22 cm -4$.- cm -,$04 cm --$4/ cm
waist 00$22 cm -4$.- cm -,$04 cm --$4/ cm
hip -4$.- cm --$4/ cm -2$0- cm 1&$&' cm
MATERIALS
5abric re6uirements are by style of dress and same for all si7es, allow e!tra for matching or centering prints
D3*++ +T89* 9ong +leee w
contrast
9ong +leee all the
same fabric
+hort +leee with
contrast
+hort +leee all the
same fabric
Dress 5ront : Back ';, yard & yard ';, yard 1;2 yard
+leees &;, yard &;/ yard
&< wide bias /4< long /4< long ''< long ''< long
&;/< elastic =cut length suggestions by si7e are only suggestions$$$ eery baby and elastic is different$
+I>* , months - months . month &' month
neckline &,$0 inches &/ inches &/$0 inches &0 inches
cuff ?long sleee@ /$0 inches each /$10 inches each 0 inches each 0$'0 inches
Other Notions & Tools
A Pattern pdf printed, tiled : taped together, trimmed to si7e
A +traight pins
A +afety Pin or other elastic feeding tool
A +pool of coordinating thread
A Cutting tools for cloth, paper : threads
A B presser foot ?or the blind hem foot for your machine@
A Iron : ironing board
CUTTING
&$ Cut two Front & Back ?piece &@ on fold, center on print design if desired
'$ Cut two Short Sleee ?piece '@ on fold -OR= two Lon! Sleee pieces on fold ?piece ,@
,$ Cut &< wide bias for neckline, and also for cuffs if making long sleeed$ 3efer to chart on preious page
for length of bias needed, which is dependent on dress style ?actual lengths used of bias may be less
depending on dress si7e@$
ASSEMBL"
&$ 5inish any edges of the Sleees or dress Front & Back
as desired with a 7ig7ag or serged edge$
'$ %atching single notches, lay raglan edge of one Sleee
against raglan edge of dress Front with ri!ht sides together
and pin in place$ Do the same with remaining Sleee at the
other side of the dress Front$
,$ (ow pin together the free raglan edges of both Sleees to
the raglan edges of the dress Back matching single notches
and with ri!ht sides together$ 8ou should hae all four dress
pieces pinned together as illustrated at right$
/$ +ew each raglan seam one at a time using a &;'< seam
allowance and carefully following the subtle cure of the
edge$ ?CptionalD Eith each seam, carefully clip a few cuts
into the seam allowance near cure$@ Press seam
allowances open$
0$ Eith ri!ht sides together, align the raglan sleee seams
from Front to Back and the double notches of the dress
Front and dress Back$ Pin together from the Sleee edge to
the bottom hem edge$ 3epeat on other side of dress$
-$ +ew from +leee edge to bottom hem using a &;'< seam
allowance and taking a pioted turn at the raglan seam$
3epeat at the other side of dress$
1$ Carefully clip the seam allowance at the underarm pointing
towards the turn in the seam$ 3epeat at other underarm and
press all seam allowances open$
ELASTIC CASINGS
&$ Turn Dress to ri!ht side$ Press back one short end of the
bias towards its #ron! side by about &;/<$
'$ Eith ri!ht sides together lay the folded end of the bias
against one of the raglan seams at the neckline edge,
aligning the long edge of bias with the neckline edge and pin
Fust at this beginning point$
NOTE$ Because the bias and the neckline will gie and
stretch in slightly different ways as you sew them together, I
find it easier to not pin the whole seam first, but Fust let them
pass under the machine naturally, and not really stretching
one or the other$
,$ Gsing a &;/< seam allowance, sew the bias to the neckline
all the way around until you are Fust a few inches away from
where you began, then stop with needle down$ *stimate how
much of the bias length you will need to meet the beginning
fold of the bias H a &;/< e!tra and trim off$ 5old the second
edge of bias back so that its fold will butt up against the first
and hold in place to finish seam$
/$ Press ri!ht side of bias casing up towards the seam
allowances all around neckline$ (ow fold top edge of bias
oer the seam allowances with #ron! sides together, then
fold both down towards #ron! side of dress$ None o% the
&ias sho'l( &e sho#in! %ro) the ri!ht si(e o% (ress*
Ieep these creases in place for the following sewing step
with a few pins$
0$ Topstitch cashing down in place at the ery bottom edge of
the casing fold all around the neckline$ This should gie you
about a ,;2< casing channel for the elastic$
+* If you are making a long sleeed dress, create the
channels for the sleee cuffs by following +teps &=0 for the
neckline casing, but starting and stopping the bias attachment
at the sleee seam$ ,OR, If you are making short sleees,
finish them with a &;/< rolled hem or as desired$
HEM & FINISH
NOTE$ %aking a blind hem re6uires a blind hem presser foot$
5or the "anome )ori7on &0,444 it is the B foot$ The first few
steps of making a blind hem are at the ironing board$
&$ Eith dress #ron! side out, lay around narrow end of
ironing board$ 5old up and press a &;'< of the bottom dress
edge towards the #ron! side all around the hem to make a
crease$ Take care that your creased edge follows the subtle
cure of the bottom edge of the dress$
'$ 5old towards the #ron! side again by &< encasing the raw
edge and creating a new crease all around the dress$
,$ (ow fold the hem back towards its ri!ht side to create a
new fold, and also reeal a &;/< of the first fold$ If this sounds
more complicated than it ought to, hae a look at the ideo
?httpD;;www$Fanomespecials$com;annamaria;ideos$html@ and
the illustration at right$ Press the new crease all around$
/$ Ieep all creases in place and also help to ease the cure
of the bottom edge by pinning at the side seams first$ (ow
stretch the dress width a bit to accommodate the ease as you
pin in place all around$
0$ After B foot is attached to machine, slide dress hem edge
underneath the foot with the #ron! side facing up$ %ake
sure the top fold is snugly up against the left edge of the
black flange of the B foot$ +elect the blind hem stitch ?which
is J&2 of the utility stitches on the "anome &0,444@$ This
stitch will sew a straight stitch onto the bottom fold at right,
and periodically Fump oer the black flange to grab a single
stitch at the ery edge of the top fold at left$ 8ou can adFust
how deeply it Kgrabs< that single stitch of the top fold by
adFusting the needle position ?this is dependent on your your
machine#s options@$ +ew hem all around the bottom
perimeter of dress$ Turn hem back to flat, and press well$
-$ Gsing the elastic lengths suggested by si7e, feed through the opening in the casing at the neckline,
continuing to adFust the gathers as you go and making sure not to let the elastic end slip through$ Cnce
you#e fed all the way through and made sure you haen#t twisted the elastic, pull both ends out and
oerlap them and pin together$ Tack them together with a few machine stitches$ 9et elastic slip back
into the casing by stretching the neckline a bit, then tucking the raw ends in neatly with an awl or straight
pin$
1$ 3epeat the aboe step on each of the sleee cuffs if making the long sleeed ersion$ Bie the
dress and final pressing and *("C8!